Posts Tagged ‘online strategy’Why Not Understanding Social Media Etiquette is Impacting Your EffortsJanuary 11th, 2012Hi All! Back in 2012 I wrote a blog post entitled “Do You Suffer from Social ‘Me’dia Syndrome?”. It was picked up by tons of other blogs and also led to my being asked to write variations of it for several online business communities and magazines. I bring this up because yesterday I spoke to a good friend of mine who was asking me about Social Media tips. After my chat with her I realized that it was a good time to revisit this topic in 2012. Why? Because MANY people are still clueless about proper Social Media etiquette! Here’s the deal…you have to participate to make it work for you. If you make it all “about you”, you’ve lost the entire essence of what Social Media is about! I find that many new clients who come to me are not getting much out of their Social Media and online marketing efforts because they’ve forgotten ONE little detail…they forgot about the word “social” in their Social Media strategy. Here are a few tips that will quickly illustrate my point: 1. Comment on other peoples’ blog posts. If you have a blog and want people to comment on your posts, you have to comment on OTHER peoples’ blog posts to start generating traffic to yours. It’s simple: If you read a blog post you like or have an opinion on, don’t just “keep it to yourself”. POST A COMMENT! 2. Retweet other peoples’ tweets: If you like a tweet from someone else, take a split second to click on the retweet button to share it with your followers. That’s why the retweet icon exists! To SHARE info with everyone and help cross-promote each other to help increase awareness for other people. It’s amazing how much more tweet-love and traffic you’ll get if you retweet, reply and comment on other peoples’ tweets. AGAIN…it’s part of being “social” in tweet-ville…and it’s part of Social Media etiquette! 3. Comment or Like other peoples’ posts on Facebook or in LinkedIn Groups: If you want more people to comment and/or click on the “like” button on your Fan Page or Profile posts, then do it more for other people! It takes less than one second to click “like” under someone’s post and sometimes just a couple of seconds to write a comment. Again, if you see a post that you like or find interesting, rather than just THINK to yourself, “That’s funny!” or “That’s cool!” or “That’s interesting!” or “That’s really helpful info!”, move your cursor up to the word “like” under it and simply click. Or type a short comment to acknowledge what that person posted! This may all sounds like common sense BUT it’s NOT common practice…which is why millions of social media hobbyists and small business owners are involved in Social Media but frustrated with it. They constantly just focus on posting stuff about THEM, their businesses, their products or events, their books, their families, their vacations, their kids, the songs they like, food they like to eat, etc., but they rarely take the time to acknowledge what other people post and share online. So…here’s my challenge to YOU: If any of this describes how YOU participate in the world of Social Media, make “improve my Social Media etiquette in 2012″ one of YOUR resolutions in the new year! You’ll be pleased with the results and will truly be participating the way the world of Social Media was intended! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa  Why Google Places Can Help You Attract More Clients: Online or OfflineSeptember 27th, 2011Hi All! The following article is a Guest Blog from Cindy Morus and Christine Wood, Co-founders of BizFinder Local (.com). They help businesses, offline and online, get more customers with the latest technology and online marketing tools, including Google Places. And in this easy-to-follow article they are going to explain what Google Places is and why you need to take it seriously! Why Google Places Can Help You Attract More Clients: Online or Offline: Search for your business on a mobile device and click on everthing that comes up (if nothing shows up, you’ve identified your first problem). Does it look like you’re active and “open for business?” One of the first things you should see is a listing of 7 Google Places entries. Are you there? What is Google Places? It’s a huge directory of businesses created by Google. These free place pages are available for both online and offline businesses, and show up when you search for a business. Even though you mostly serve clients outside your geographic area, are you willing to work with local customers? Then you need a Google Places page! Virtual Businesses and solo entrepreneurs qualify for a Google Places listing and “puts you on the (Google) map!” If your business doesn’t have a place page your are missing out on a huge opportunity and it’s easy to get one for your business! Imagine having Google promoting your services to everyone who lives in your area (even if you don’t have any articles and blog posts out there)! Local and Mobile searches are at the top of Google’s priority list. Did you know that 82% of local searches result in offline action (a visit, a phone call, a More people search for businesses online than anywhere else, so don’t miss out on this opportunity to be credible to local customers! And if you’d like us to do a FREE Google Places evaluation for your business to see how you show up in the search results, contact us today! Many clients who come to us do NOT show up in a Google Places search and that means they are missing out on attracting new business. Thanks, Cindy & Christine! Great info and great offer! Lisa 9 Tips Authors Can Use for Marketing Their First BookAugust 26th, 2011Hi All! I came across these great tips in a post on The Creative Penn blog and wanted to share them with you. Whether you’re a new book author, or a seasoned author, and regardless of whether you self-published or have a traditional publishing deal, these tips can help you. They are from an article written by Graham Storrs, author of “Timesplash”. Many of these tips are ones I’ve personally used to market my books, and I also advise my author clients on them, as well. Ready for Graham’s tips??? Here ya go: 1. Get an audience before the release. When you announce your newly-published book to the world, it would be nice if someone was there to hear you. So how many people read your blog? How many friends do you have on Twitter or Facebook? Are you using LinkedIn groups, Goodreads, LibraryThing? Unless you are being followed (friended, or whatever) by hundreds, if not thousands of people, you probably need to put some time into building up your profile on these sites. When you make that announcement, you will feel as if you are standing on the stage in an empty theatre, unless you’ve managed to drag a few people in off the streets first. 2. Create a brand. In writing, the author is the brand. And that means you. You need to present yourself in your communications with potential readers in a way you are comfortable with and which is related to the boks you expect to be promoting. An important part of this is to know which genre you are working in. It’s invidious, I know, but received wisdom is that if you work in more than one genre, you probably need two different names and two different brands. When you are putting yourself out there and finding ways to talk about your book, don’t forget what your brand is – who you want people to see you as. Stay focused. 3. Know what you are going to say. Marketing is about message. Your brand is part of it but the rest is all content. What is your book about? Who will it appeal to? What groups should be interested in it, discussing it, recommending it, and what will catch their attention? Work it all out, find the wording you need to convey the message succinctly and clearly, then, in everything you say, stay on that message. It’s probably not all that hard. You probably write the kind of books you also love to read. Mostly, your target audience is people rather like yourself. Take a while to understand what it is that attracts you to new, unknown writers in your genre and you are half-way there. 4. Understand where your interests lie. You will be selling your book through a variety of channels (book shops, online, as ebooks and as print – possibly POD) and in a number of ‘geographies’ – defined in your publishing contract – to a number of audiences (‘market segments’ in the jargon.) Some channels and geographies will earn you more money than others. If your royalties on net, vs on retail price, it is of critical importance to you personally how big a cut various middlemen are taking. (Remember it can be quite hard to know which channel is best since while apparently high-paying channels like direct sales from your publisher’s own website may earn you a bigger royalty than online stores like Amazon, the latter is likely to out-sell the publisher’s own shop by many times and deliver a much bigger return for your effort. The same goes for audiences. Some are more likely to be interested than others, some more likely to buy, some more likely to spread the word. You are likely to be overwhelmed with work and you need to know where to put your marketing efforts. 5. Keep it rolling. With online sales and ebook editions, publicising a book is not the one-shot event it used to be. Market dynamics have changed since the days when bricks and mortar book shops were all that there was and you had three to six weeks during which your book would be on the shelf before it was returned to make way for the new batch of hopefuls. Now your book will stay in online catalogues for as long as your publishing agreement lasts – and longer if you act to keep it there. You probably have a few months now, after the launch, while your book is fairly new, when you can actively promote it and try to keep people’s attention on it. Even beyond that point, you can run occasional refresher campaigns to lift its profile again. This is all good news for the writer. The bad news is that the marketing need never end! 6. Engage. Talk to your readers and your potential readers. Talk about your book if they’re interested. Talk about the genre. Talk about writing and publishing. Talk about yourself. People are interested. It’s hard to grasp at first. You do interviews, you write blog pieces, you twitter about your life, your opinions, and your book, and you you think, “What the hell is so fascinating about me? Aren’t people going to think I’m a complete ego-maniac?” Well, maybe some will, but an awful lot won’t. They have read your book and liked it and they’re curious about who wrote it, or why you wrote it, or how you wrote it. Even if they haven’t read the book, there are plenty of people with common interests – in the genre, or in writing – who see you as someone who has contributed, or has special knowledge of the journey. You could ignore them all, sit quietly at your desk and write your next book, but it is a deeper, richer experience for everybody – you included – if you engage with them. 7. Keep your pipeline filled. This is more jargon from the sales world. Like it or not, you are selling a product. It’s a business. Your readers are consumers of that product. If they like it, they will want more. The only way they will get more is if you write it. So don’t stop work on that next book, no matter how much extra work the last one has created. A book takes a long time to write, revise, edit and polish. Then you have to sell it to a publisher (oh yes, there are no free rides, each new book can be just as hard to sell as the last one.) Then edit it and then market it. It’s a long pipeline. You keep putting words in at one end and there will be more books to sell at the other. If you stop, there will be a gap. 8. Prepare to work your socks off. You may think you were busy when you wrote the book – what with the day job and family commitments – but once you shave signed that contract, you will shift into overdrive. Now, as well as the day job, the family, and writing the next book, you also have to work with your publisher on edits, and you have to work on your marketing campaign. Your social networking will escalate, your blogging and website content writing will increase, you’ll be trawling the blogsphere working with your communities of interest, and you’ll be pestering reviewers the world over to just please take a look at your book. That’s why I say it’s writing an iceberg – seven tenths of the work comes after the book is finished. 9. Don’t forget to have some fun, or you’ll go nuts. Sometimes, you should even take a holiday! I hope you found those helpful! Marketing a new book can be very challenging, but by implementing tips like those, combined with effectively marketing your book on Amazon, adding PR and writing press releases, and implementing other marketing strategies to your mix, you can ramp your book sales and build a fan base! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa 5 Things Your Freelance Sales Writer Must DeliverJuly 18th, 2011Hi All! The following blog is a guest post courtesy of Debbie Feldstein, a freelance non-fiction writer based in New York City. For more than 20 years, she has provided imaginative, unique, and persuasive copy in the form of press releases, brochures, sales letters, and autoresponders. She has authored dozens of books, reports, and articles on effective sales and marketing. Among her ‘best sellers’ are How to Use Social Media Marketing to Attract More Prospects, Make More Sales and How to Create Information Products. For more information, please visit www.creativeblocks.com or send a message to oddball@creativeblocks.com. Plus, I can personally vouch for Deb’s talent because she has been the Editor for my 3 books! She really is fabulous and great to work with. Okay! Let’s jump into Deb’s article: 5 Things Your Freelance Sales Writer Must Deliver The Internet makes it easy to find and hire freelance copywriters. But the question many entrepreneurs and small business owners face when they want to outsource their copywriting needs is this: How do I know which copywriter to choose? (My short answer is ‘Choose ME,’ of course.) If you don’t know anything about the product you’re buying, then it’s tough to get a good deal. For example, if you don’t know diddly about cars, you may end up buying a Yugo instead of a Mercedes. One way to ‘look under the hood’ of a potential hire that you want to handle your business writing is to ask them in their proposal if they know (and can deliver) the 5 essentials of a good sales message. Anatomy of a Conversion-Oriented Sales Message Whether it’s an advertisement in the Sunday paper, a postcard, an online sales letter, a television commercial, or even a flyer stuck under the wipers of an automobile, an effective pitch always includes these elements. To assess skills, ask your copywriter to provide portfolio samples of: ***Headline – A headline should be unique, powerful, and convey the biggest benefit of using a product or service. ***Body Copy – The body copy should be an emotionally compelling recitation of what the consumer will receive and needs to do. ***Social Proof – Testimonials and endorsements, prove that an offer is what you claim. The problem is that many testimonials and long and rambling. (Ask your copywriter for a sample of a before-and-after testimonial that he/she has edited.) ***Guarantee – Guarantees should remove risk so that the consumer has no fear of disappointment. ***Bonus – Offering something of additional value (“But wait, there’s more!”) should transform a sales offer from ‘good’ to ‘irresistible.’ ***Urgent Call to Action – Procrastination kills profits and, unfortunately, prospective buyers may be likely to put aside offers to act upon at a later date. Ask your copywriter for an example of a statement that tells a consumer how to place an order, with an incentive for them to act quickly. Important note: When asking for a sample of these various elements, it is appropriate to request something from the writer’s portfolio. It is NOT appropriate to ask your as-yet-unhired writer to do work ‘on spec’ and deliver samples based on your specific project. Unscrupulous entrepreneurs (and you don’t want to be one of THOSE) sometimes ask numerous copywriters to provide on-spec samples. Then they simply cobble those samples together to create their own sales message, without paying any of the writers whose creativity they are pilfering. Your prospects are waiting for you. And so are the talented copywriters that can help you turn those prospects into buyers. Go for it! Thanks, Deb, for the great advice! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa
How to Write Articles for Branding and Web Traffic: Part TwoMarch 22nd, 2011Hi All! This is Part Two of a 2-part series, so hopefully you read Part One and are ready to continue with learning more about article writing for brand building! Okay! So, you’ve outlined a list of article topics your target audience will benefit from, and you’ve written your first article. Now what? There are a wide variety of online article submission and distribution services available that operate in different ways and that serve different purposes. Here is a brief overview of the types that you’ll encounter. They will: Require you to pay a minimal fee, or not charge anything, to distribute your article online and will create a web page for your article that can be found in search results; or, they will have subscribers who pay a monthly fee to access fresh content (i.e. articles submitted by experts like you) and those people will use your article in their blogs, ezines, websites, publications or newsletters; or, the service will pay you a minimal fee if they approve your article and choose to offer it on their website for others to publish; or, they will charge you a minimal fee to distribute your articles to targeted outlets (not just distribute it online) interested in your topic matter. You can find examples of services that match the variety I just provided by performing online searches using phrases like: Free services to submit articles; online article submission; getting paid to write or submit articles; and services to distribute articles online. You will quickly see there are hundreds of options to get your article distributed and found by your target audience! It can be a bit overwhelming, so start by picking a few and try them out. Another option, if you have the budget, is to hire a VA (Virtual Assistant) or a freelance article submission expert, and they can do all of this for you. You can find people who can help you by posting a request on a service like eLance.com and you’ll receive responses from many individuals who offer this type of support. Plus, you can also find article ghostwriters on eLance.com who are reasonably priced! But, if you plan to get your articles out to the masses by yourself, here is a link to a compiled list of article submission services…it’s very comprehensive and many of them are FREE!!! But before I conclude this 2-part series, I’d like to share one more strategy you can implement for getting your articles distributed: Contact publications and blogs directly that reach your target audience. No matter what your area of expertise is, there are going to be tons of magazines, ezines, newsletters (print and online), websites, social media community websites, and blogs seeking content from outside authors. You can do online searches to find the ones who reach your target audience and then create a targeted hit-list to inquire if they accept guest articles. You will find that some of them will even have article submission guidelines available on their websites! If they find your topic ideas interesting, feel their audience will benefit from your information, and find your articles to be well-written, there’s a very good chance they will publish your content. And, even better, you will begin to establish a relationship with these targeted contacts and that can lead to their accepting your articles on a regular basis. This is a fabulous scenario because their audience will become more familiar with you and that is a key factor for building your topic expert brand! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa Business Building Tools for Coaches and ConsultantsFebruary 11th, 2011Hi All! Many of my clients are coaches or consultants, and they hire me because they are struggling with growing their practices and generating more income. And, some of them are also authors who have written a book to help increase their notoriety as an expert so they need my help with their branding and book marketing, too. If you can relate to any of that, and you are a coach or consultant, I recommend checking out these (2) FREE tools, created by my colleague, Kathleen Gage. Kathleen is an online marketing expert and has helped many coaches and consultants increase their income by becoming more savvy about using the internet as a key marketing and sales tool for growing their practices. Here are the 2 FREE Products she is offering: 1. SPECIAL REPORT: What You Need to Know to Start & Build Your Coaching or Consulting Business Again, it’s free and NO OPT-IN is required! Simply click here to receive this info-packed pdf! 2. 3-PART VIDEO SERIES: Build a Successful Coaching and Consulting Business This is ALSO FREE, and simply click here to access the videos! And, if you’re really serious about ramping your practice, be sure to check out the New Horizon’s Telesummit! 12 Experts (one is me!) will be conducting sessions loaded with advice and strategies all about how to grow your coaching and consulting business. Here is a snapshot of what you’ll learn by attending this event: - Attract higher-paying clients There are several different registration options, ranging in price, so you’re bound to find one that works with your budget! And the event is VIA PHONE, so you can attend from anywhere on your phone. The New Horizons Telesummit is February 23rd and 24th, so CLICK HERE for details! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa 4 Steps to Leveraging Other People’s Audiences for Big ExposureJanuary 14th, 2011Hi All! I saw the following blog post on ByBloggers.net (an amazing resource for learning effective strategies to create and market digital products), and received permission from them, and the article’s author, to share it here. It’s loaded with great information to help you expand your brand to the followers of other bloggers and online broadcasters (ie: People with podcast shows) who have large audiences. No need for me to go on about this topic…author, Mike Tiojanco, does a fine job on his own! But before you dive into his info-packed article, here’s some info about Mike: He is an entrepreneur, blogger, and partner at BlogcastFM Premium. In January, he is launching his new project, 8 Hour Rebellion, aimed at helping people break out of the 9-5 and live a life free from the chains of an office desk (so he can spend more time with his wife, two kids, and Xbox360). And you can follow him on twitter: @mtio. So, without further delay…here is what Mike has to say about:Leveraging Other People’s AudiencesMost entrepreneurs are familiar with the concept of using leverage to make money. Use other people’s time (OPT) or, more commonly, other people’s money (OPM) to push your business. However, when I launched a membership site, it wasn’t OPT or OPM that made it a success. It was OPA. Other People’s Audiences. Anatomy of a PartnershipLast November, I helped launch BlogcastFM Premium – a membership site that helps people take their blogs to the next level. None of that would have happened without a partnership between myself and the BlogcastFM founders, Srini Rao and Sid Savara. Let’s go step-by-step through the partnership/joint venture (JV) process as I experienced it: 1. Build Your NetworkWay back in February I heard about a new podcast series that was launching – BlogcastFM. I had been reading Sid’s personal development blog and following him on twitter. I was just starting my own blog at the time, so the podcast content was perfect for me. I ended up following Srini on twitter and reading his blog. A couple posts into my blog I shot him an email asking him to take a look. He was kind enough to take few minutes to check it out and give me some feedback. I kept in contact with him via twitter, and eventually pitched him on my very first guest post. At the time I had no clue that these initial contacts would turn into a partnership, but at the time I was just looking to connect with people who were doing what I wanted to be doing. The takeaway: Work on building your network early and often. Many successful bloggers advise that you spend 50% of your time writing content and 50% of your time networking. 2. Listen to People’s NeedsLike I mentioned before, I am a devoted listener of BlogcastFM. I listen to just about every episode the day it comes out, sometimes more than once (I’ve got a 45 min. commute). After listening to that many episodes, a common theme appeared. In just about every episode, Srini commented, “If I could put into action the ideas I get from every interview, my blog would be way more successful than it is.” So even Srini, the host of the podcast… the interviewer himself… needed help pulling the best tips out of every interview and figuring out how to implement them. Surely their audience was having the same issues. I could help with that. The Takeaway: Find something that someone’s audience needs that the blogger doesn’t have time to create (or has no interest in creating). Dave Navarro did this with Naomi Dunford’s audience. Her audience at ittybiz.com consists of small online business owners. She offers marketing and business development advice – a lot of which is focused on creating ebooks and other digital products. However, her material didn’t really focus on how to launch the ebook once it was created – Dave’s specialty. Before partnering on “How to Launch the **** of Your eBook,” Dave Navarro was mostly unknown. It was the partnership with Naomi that put him on the map. 3. Pitch the IdeaBack in September, I approached them with an idea for the product – a membership site offering action worksheets for each of their 100+ interviews on BlogcastFM. They said yes. I think what really put them over the edge is that I provided a sample of the product – an action worksheet for the interview with Sean Ogle. This let them see exactly what I had in mind, as opposed to an abstract description in an email. The Takeaway: Don’t be afraid to pitch the idea. After my pitch, the feedback the guys gave to me was that this was something they really wanted to create for their audience, but they didn’t have the time to do it themselves. Worst case scenario, they pass, but now you’re really on their radar. The last step: 4. Make Them Love You.This is something I’m still working on, and will continue to work on as long as BlogcastFM is around. Do the best work you can. Make them feel lucky to have you on their team. Remember, your work is a reflection on their reputation. The Takeaway: After someone says yes, provide the best work you can so that they feel that the partnership was the best business decision they ever made. Like I said, I’m still working on this one. I had some family issues that prevented me from doing this over the past month or so, but you better believe I’m going to work my tail off showing them that this was the right decision for them. That said, I’ve got some interviews to listen to and some worksheets to create… BIG thanks to Mike, and to Jonathan, founder of ByBloggers.net, for allowing me to share this! GREAT ADVICE and useful info! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa The Ten P’s for How to Produce a Successful WebinarJune 03rd, 2010Hi All! I came across this helpful info written by the HUGELY popular Web Strategist, Jeremiah Owyang. The guy travels all over the world consulting with corporations on their web and social media strategies, plus he’s also an in-demand speaker globally and frequent media guest. He recently wrote an article outlining the Ten P’s that he recommends following to produce a successful webinar. Here’s 5 of the 10 tips: 1) Philosophy: Most approach webinars realizing they are different than all other mediums. Despite being primarily one-way they have a social element as attendees will interact with each other in the provided chat features, or on tools like Twitter. Secondly, many webinar producers don’t offer helpful content to the audience, and instead treat it like a sales pitch. Lastly, speakers that are great on stage in the real world, may fall short and appear lackluster in an online faceless webinar. 2) Purpose: Many webinar producers fail to pick a succinct goal, in fact this is key as it will define how you measure success. Some objectives can include: Thought leadership, association, customer references, lead generation, sales material, accelerating the customer life cycle, or education. 3) Planning: There are many decisions and steps that need to happen in this crucial phase. From deciding if the event should be recorded in advance, or done live, when to schedule the event (taking into account a global audience and conference and travel sesaons) and then selecting the right platforms between Adobe, Microsoft, WebEx, and Go To Meeting. One biggest fail point is not having the right hardware and software (including compatible browsers) and waiting to the last-minute-scramble to get this done. The truly savvy producers will integrate the webinar with existing community and tie with direct marketing systems and then funnel leads to the CRM system. 4) Professionals: There are many talent considerations to make during this performance. Just as you would bring forth the best speakers at your customer conference, you should apply the same thinking here. Your internal team will include the following duties, but keep in mind, often one person will conduct multiple duties such as: Internal Stakeholder, Webinar Producer, Coordinator, Marketer, Community Manager, and Technical Support of both the platform, hardware, and software. The performance team will include any of the following: Speaker, panelists, emcees, and should have a backup speaker. 5) Programming of Content: Once a kickoff meeting has been set in place, the internal and performance team should discuss content. The producer should offer details about the event, goal, audience, and suggest topics. Decisions around this being a one-off event, or an ongoing series needs to occur, as well as the presentation style (keynote vs panel, or some type of hybird). The hosting company needs to clearly think through the risks of ‘pitching’ wares as it will have both negative and positive impacts. BUT, don’t stop here! CLICK HERE to read his entire article and read the last 5 P’s!! Cheers & Happy Marketing! Lisa |
